by Russel Donohue

Created on: November 11, 2010

Living With Type 2 Diabetes: Problems and Solutions

Using thought, evaluation and action, you can control your type 2 diabetes. The direct tool is being aware of your blood sugar level and controlling it since your body can't (for now). This seems like a huge task at the beginning, because it is something not done by many people. Especially if you need to be very strict in obtaining 'tight' control.

Blood sugar levels are typically automatically controlled by your body. As a person with type 2 diabetes, one must balance the intake of food and nutrition with the use of this energy through the use of exercise. One of the effects of no regular exercise and high blood sugar levels is the breakdown of the circulatory system. Blood vessels, especially the small networks in the extremities, become stiff and break. This results in the slow death of flesh from the lack of blood.

When one needs to control your diabetes with insulin injections, the amounts of insulin needed has to be calculated based upon the both the person's blood sugar level (found with the use of a blood sample and a meter) and the amount of sugar-potential food eaten.

Abnormal balance of blood sugar causes many problems in the individual, including mental depression, lack of energy, high blood pressure, heart attacks, strokes, pain and numbness in hands and feet, inability to heal from wounds. In the later stages of poor circulation, amputations may be performed.

By adjusting the types and amounts of food eaten in response to the results of blood sugar tests, many people can make their levels stay near the normal ranges. If you don't exercise regularly, this control becomes more and more difficult as you use glucose less effectively on a cellular level. The human body is designed to use blood sugar (glucose) to provide energy to move - that is exercise. Glucose can not just float around in the body for long. It must be used, stored or eliminated. If stored, through a chain of events the excess glucose builds up fat. If eliminated, the kidneys and liver are damaged through over use.

Type 2 diabetics require effective, long term weight control. Most type 2 diabetics are initially overweight - in fact a lot are obese. The additional weight, in the form of fat, requires more insulin for the body to send blood sugar to and through cells for energy release. In addition, fat makes it harder for insulin to be used. This requirement for additional insulin is never quite caught up with by the pancreas in type 2

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